County: Kildare Site name: LEIXLIP: 59 Main Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KD011-004001- Licence number: 03E1642
Author: Melanie McQuade, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 700520m, N 735920m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.363915, -6.489705
Testing was carried out on the site of proposed extensions to No. 59 Main Street in October 2003. The original building on this site dates to the mid-18th century. Three trenches were excavated to its rear. No stratigraphy survived in the south of the site, where the ground had been reduced and a hardcore surface had been inserted. In the north of the site the stratigraphy comprised 0.1–0.26m of rubble clay, 0.1m of mortar and up to 0.34m of garden soil overlying natural ground.
The remains of an east–west wall foundation were uncovered in the north of the site. The wall was constructed of cut limestone (0.2m by 0.16m) bonded with a creamy white mortar, which had a pebble aggregate. It was 0.4m high and 0.53m wide. Masonry remains of similar construction extended 0.8m north-eastwards from this wall. These remains probably date from the 18th century.
A pit was uncovered in the north of the site. A single sherd of medieval pottery from the fill suggests that the pit may date from the medieval period. Several other sherds of medieval pottery came from garden soil in the north of the site. Their presence may be due to reworking of soils over time but does indicate some level of activity in the area during the medieval period. Several fragments of post-medieval pottery, which probably derived from the occupants of No. 59, were also uncovered.
A standing wall ran north–south between No. 59 and the adjoining property to the west, but part of its southern extent had been removed. This wall was constructed of randomly coursed limestone bonded with mortar and probably dates from the 19th century.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
